


until the end

by perhapssoon



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, a lot of blood, a lot of gore too, bittersweet ending ig, sanitized au, sanitized!aloha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: When Aloha gets Sanitized, everyone has to learn how to deal with that on their own. Scuba is no exception. Except the life of a turfer-turned-hero may have its own unforseen consequences, whether he likes it or not.





	until the end

**Author's Note:**

> i like to sanitized random characters and angst other characters and that's all you need to know about me

Inkopolis Square is empty, the only movement coming from the empty wrappers floating listlessly around the place and the three Inklings hidden in the shadows of an alleyway.

Octoglasses is injured; her arms and left leg are dripping in ink from an attack previously brought on by sanitized Octolings roaming the streets. She grimaces in pain as they stumble forward, almost collapsing if Scuba weren't there to grab her by the elbow and hold her upright.

"Thanks," she gasps. 

"You good? We don't have to do this if you're injured." Scuba's eyes travel along her dripping arms and dropping posture and Octoglasses shakes her head, words seemingly failing her.

"No, no-no this-- it's okay. It's okay."

"OG, you're literally melting," Straw says from farther away, her roller held out like it would protect them from any surprise attacks. Her straw hat, usually clean and immaculate, is full of holes and coated in turquoise ink. She glances to Scuba and the taller Inkling can see how scared she is, her pupils practically gone from her eyes. "She won't make it. I think we need to hold off for now."

Scuba frowns and casts his gaze across the deserted Square. They're so close; they had managed to get past waves of defenses for this, but now they wouldn't be able to follow through with their initial plan. "You're right."

"Sorry," Octoglasses says quietly.

"It's not your fault."

They sit in silence for a moment, the wind stirring their tentacles, blowing the clumps of trash in from the abandoned tables. Scuba’s eyes scan Deca Tower, now covered in turquoise goo, for any sign of Aloha. Their former leader isn't here, as far as he can tell, but they're getting close. He stands, Straw moving to stop him instinctively, but he brushes her off. "I can go on alone then. You stay with OG, yeah?"

She stares at him. "What happened to stickin' together?"

"There's no time for us to redo this," Scuba says. He grips the pole that he had pulled from a random stop sign and slides it into the makeshift holder on his back. "I'll be back."

"Wait." Octoglasses grabs his wrist and presses a dagger into his hand. He looks at it for a minute before nodding slightly.

After the Sanitized took over, all turf weapons were illegalized. Everyone had to scrounge for weapons to make from junk, like scrap metal or, as Scuba had found his staff, from dismantling sign poles. It made for a more dangerous time, but everyone hoped that if they got rid of the Sanitized, everything could go back to normal again.

He slips the dagger into his pocket and stands, moving under the cover of a few overhangs, darting across the Square to press himself against the outer wall of the lobby, only moving up Deca Tower when Straw gave him a thumbs up sign from where she and Octoglasses were hidden.

The first ledge is coated in Santized goop, but he knows from experience it only acts like normal enemy ink so he puts his whole hand in, ignoring the burning sensation as it eats away at his skin. He finds a handhold and pulls himself upward, his staff cold and heavy across his back.

It seems like forever, but he finds himself at the top of Deca Tower, a tiny pinprick of glowing turquoise in the distance. His body is screaming at him to run away, but he advances against his better judgement.

He doesn't need to look when he gets closer. He already knows it's Aloha.

They stand there silently for what seems like forever, Scuba’s eyes refusing to meet Aloha’s gaze. He can see the bright turquoise glow emanating from the other Inkling’s right eye, and he knows that there’s no way he can break his leader out of the mind control without fighting him. 

“Hello Scuba,” Aloha says finally, a too-large smile spreading across his face. “You’ve come back to me after all his time, huh?” His head tilts slightly to the left, painfully reminiscent of the times before the Sanitized came into existence. 

No. That was a different Aloha. This Aloha wouldn’t murder the S4, wouldn’t brainwash half of Blue Team, wouldn’t be working willingly with Rider to cut the power for all the spawn points. 

“Such a shame you’ll have to die so soon.” Aloha takes a step forward and Scuba’s hold tightens on his staff, like doing so will hold his leader off. 

“I do so like playing with you after all.”

Scuba’s gaze finally lifts and he looks Aloha right in the eyes. The former Pink Team leader’s usual bright blue eyes are glowing a sickening turquoise, the same color as the dripping goo curled on the right side of his face. They’re devoid of emotion, cold and blank, though his teeth are bared in a deranged smile. 

There’s a flicker there, like Aloha is trying to snap out of it, before the shorter Inkling lunges forward. 

Scuba manages to bring his staff up in time, metal screeching against metal as Aloha drags his makeshift spear along the end of it. They’re face-to-face for a few seconds before Scuba shoves hard and pushes the Sanitized Inkling off of him. 

“I don’t want to fight you! I’m here to save you!” Scuba manages to avoid a barrage of sharp objects that just materialized in Aloha’s hands before the turquoise Inkling suddenly appears behind him, forcing Scuba to take a hit in the side. He winces in pain. 

Aloha laughs with no clear emotion. “You should know that I'm past saving.” His glowing eyes widen mockingly. "Or were you too fixated on trying to 'be a hero' to notice?"

Scuba grits his teeth and brings his staff up in time to block another attack. A slight whirr tells him he's being targeted, and he can see the ring of tenta missals as they lock onto him. He runs, ducking underneath a grating nearby and is greeted by Aloha's blank smile as the shorter Inkling slams him through the crates behind him to land on the platform below. The Sanitized Inkling lifts his spear and pins him to the ground with his elbow on the pink Inkling's throat, leering above him like some deranged monster. "Thought you'd be able to walk in here and take me out, didn't you? Pathetic."

Scuba gasps for air. He doesn't remember when Aloha had gotten so strong, but maybe the Sanitation is enhancing his skills? Tears trickle from his eyes in the effort it's taking him to keep Aloha away. "You.. promised."

Aloha doesn't respond, though the pressure on Scuba's neck seems to stop increasing. Scuba takes that as a good sign. "...You said we'd be together. We'd help each other out, y'know? You've sacrificed so much to help this place. Just let me return the favor. Please."

The blank stare is piercingly sharp, boring into Scuba's own eyes with the intensity of a charger laser. He closes his eyes as the spear point above him quivers slightly. " _Please._ "

The pressure lessens and vanishes altogether. Scuba dares to open his eyes to see Aloha stand, avoiding eye contact, the spear landing with a clang mere inches from his head. "You shouldn't have come."

When his former leader looks back over at Scuba, the masked Inkling can see that Aloha's left eye is back to its normal blue color. It's also filled with tears, which Aloha wipes away with one arm as he fully faces Scuba. "You need to leave. Before he gains control over me again."

"Listen, 'Loha, we can help you." Scuba scrambles to his feet. The dagger in his pocket is freezing cold. "We can break you out of this, this--" he gestures wildly to the ruins of Inkopolis, "--this madness."

"You can't help me, Scuba." The laugh that comes out of Aloha's mouth is only vaguely a shadow of his usual lightheartedness. It's too broken for Scuba to distinguish it between a sob. "I'm beyond help. His control is too strong. It won't be long before he takes over again. And you won't be able to evade it this time."

Scuba swallows hard. His gaze drops to the forgotten spear at Aloha's feet and in those few moments, he makes his decision. He drops forward, grappling with the spear, Aloha's eyes once again turning turquoise. The Sanitized Inkling lunges forward, landing a sharp kick to Scuba, who lets go of the weapon and rolls aside, pushing himself up to a standing position.

Aloha stands in front of him, grinning widely, holding the spear forward so the sharp tip aims at Scuba's neck. "You measly scraps of seafood think you can talk your way out of everything, don't you?"

Scuba just lets out a huff of dry laughter before running forward. He lost his staff somewhere, but he doesn't stop to look for it. Scraps of sharp metal fly past him, stinging his face, cracking the hard plastic of his visor, cutting into his arms and legs. Still he keeps going. He's almost within range of Aloha, he just needs to--

The spear swings around too fast to see and he feels something go through him, slicing like a hot knife through butter, but he doesn't stop. He grabs Aloha by the shoulder, shoving him backwards a few feet, holding him in a tight embrace, slipping the dagger from his pocket to bury it to the hilt in Aloha's chest. They stand like that until Aloha's legs give way and they tumble forward so Aloha lands partially in Scuba's lap, Scuba himself barred by the lengthy shaft of the spear sticking from his gut. There's too much blood to tell whose is whose but it doesn't matter.

Aloha coughs, blood spilling from his lips, the same lips now tilting slightly upward in a smile. The turquoise goo falls from his face, dripping into a pool around them, mixing with the blood there. "L-looks like you  _were_ able to s-save me."

"Shut up, man." Scuba shoves the mask from his face to hang around his neck, tears freely flowing. He gently pushes the visor away from Aloha's face, the headgear falling forgotten in the puddle of liquid. "Just shut up, okay?"

Aloha just laughs, the sound wet as more blood bubbles around his mouth. His fingers reach upwards and grasp Scuba's left hand, smearing it in blood, bringing it down to rest on his chest, right next to the dagger hilt. "You-- you really did it. You figured it out."

"Just--" Scuba chokes on the overwhelming amount of blood in his throat. "-just save your strength, okay, 'Loha? We can-- we can--" He struggles to get up, the spear in his body becoming heavier and heavier.

"It's okay." Aloha cuts him off, grip tightening on Scuba's hand, eyes a bit more bright than Scuba remembers. "It's okay. You did it. You saved me. It's okay."

His eyes glaze over a bit before he blinks and grins slightly, one that Scuba hasn't seen in a year. "Are Straw and OG okay?"

"OG had an accident but hopefully they're still alive," Scuba says and cod, he wants to go find the rest of his teammates, but he can't move thanks to this spear and Aloha is too injured to do anything. 

Aloha nods slightly but winces. "Cod, it hurts," he says, and Scuba's reminded of a time when they both climbed a bit too high on that one tree on the playground and fell. Except this injury was much worse than a simple scrape. "But I think..."

He trails off and Scuba waits patiently for him to continue. The spear didn't even hurt entering his body and if it weren't for all the blood, he would've thought the spear missed. The world is becoming a bit fuzzy around the edges, but he's content to sit here with Aloha, propped up by the hilt protruding from his chest.

"...I think it's not hurting as much."

"Not hurting?" Scuba only repeats the words for his own sake, because it's getting harder to hear too. He wonder vaguely if anything hit his ears when he was fighting.

"Yeah." Aloha's head tilts back slightly, his eyes still open and searching the sky above. "Not hurting."

They lapse into silence before Aloha breaks the stillness, eyes still fixed on the sky. "Remember that time we both tried to do that double-jointed trick in Turf?"  
"The one we both fell in the water for?" Scuba chuckles, the sound jarred and raspy. "Yeah. I remember. I also remember that time we tried to cheap shot Jelonzo and he banned us from the store for a month."

Aloha smiles weakly. "Oh yeah. OG and Straw were pissed at us for days."

Scuba is starting to feel a bit warm, like the ground is suddenly a pillow instead a pool of blood, and though a warning bell goes off in his head, he doesn't think too much about it. "I should-- I should probably tell them..." his voice fails him partway through because of the copious amounts of liquid suddenly coating the inside of his mouth. He wipes his mouth the best he can, a jolt of dulled pain making its way from his stomach. His phone is slippery and he pulls it from his pocket with his free hand, dialing in Straw's number. She answers almost immediately.

_"Hello?"_

Scuba opens his mouth to say something to her, but looks over at Aloha. His former leader is watching him, eyes half-closed, a faint smile on his face. Except, his eyes aren't focused, instead gazing blankly through Scuba instead of looking at him. The taller Inkling allows a slight grin to flicker across his face before he shifts forward the best he can and slides Aloha's eyelids closed, leaving streaks of blue blood across his friend's face. The pain is ebbing away to a dull throb and he leans back, slipping slightly in his own blood, so the hilt of the spear loosens from his gut with a thick  _squelch_  and lands on the concrete, partially across his body, the noise of the metal on pavement muffled to a distant clank. The blood starts to flow faster, warm and thick, but he can't feel it that much anymore. He's filled with indifference as he watches himself bleed out, the blue contrasting with the red and white on his shirt, the pink of Aloha's tentacles, the turquoise of the goo mixed in swirls on the ground around them.

He's tired. So, so tired. It wouldn't make a difference if he slept for a bit, right? He could always call Straw later.

His vision blurs, refocuses, blurs again and everything fades out to a soft white. He feels like he's floating away, and he vaguely thinks of the irony of it since he's floating in his and Aloha's own blood. He would laugh if he weren't so exhausted.

The phone falls from his grasp to land on the ground, the screen shattering from impact, but he doesn't hear it. Straw's voice floats from the speaker, tinny and panicked.

_"Hello? Hello?? Scuba? Aloha? Is anyone there?"_

There's no response.

**Author's Note:**

> oh i also like to kill people off.....
> 
>  
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated. ily all.


End file.
